"There will be activity this summer"
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 5:00PM Click here for the full minutes of the meeting between the club and the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust.
Covers off questions around the Stadium, transfers, Harry and the press, ticketing, finance, fair play rules, kit and sponsorship and some other bits and pieces.
Stadium
• The Club is very busy behind the scenes trying to make the NDP viable. There are two dedicated people working 24/7on the stadium project and a committee of 15 meets weekly to discuss progress. The Club is seeking public sector grants to help reduce the costs and in light of this has appointed Savills to explore this avenue.
• The Club is carrying out market research to ascertain what the appetite for corporate hospitality is as well as considering a moderate increase in capacity.
• At the same time the legal challenge regarding the Olympic Stadium bid process continues. The club should know the results of their challenge by the end of July. There are two reasons for this; (i) Uncertainty remains that NDP will ever become viable and (ii) Genuine concern that the bidding process was unfair.
• With regards to other Haringey locations DL confirmed that a site near Tottenham Hale was considered but, due to the amount of property that would need acquiring, this would have been extremely time consuming and in all likelihood just as expensive as NDP with a further need for seeking planning permission from the local authorities.
• With a capital cost of £250-£300m it is just not viable right now.
• Re funding, the Club has not gone to Market yet re Naming Rights and the Supermarket deal is on hold.
• The Section 106 agreement has been agreed but is not yet exchanged.
• Ultimately, despite the huge investment this would be from THFC in the local community, there is no public sector money being made available.
• No timeframe can be put on how long this may take to resolve one way or the other.
• BK asked what supporters can do to assist THFC? DL advised that it would be beneficial for THFC supporters to lobby David Lammy, Boris Johnson, the Sports Minister and the Local Authority to constructively point out the benefits that would accrue to the local community from providing some Public Sector grant support to the stadium project. Ultimately this should be a Private/Public Sector project so all pressure exerted on the decision makers would be very welcome.
• DL advised that he has no preference re stadium he just wants a stadium solution whatever that may be.
Transfers
• The club has to trim the existing First Team squad as only 25 players are allowed excluding home grown Under-21’s who don’t count towards the 25.
• There will be activity this summer but the club does need to sell players for the above reason.
• DH asked if it was a deliberate tactic to wait until the end of the window before any intense activity? DL said he understood why there was this perception but this was far from deliberate, it was just the way the transfer market worked with buying clubs having their 1-10 wish lists and the fact it takes time to work this through.
• The Manager puts forward recommendations for purchases and the Board of Directors have the final decision taking into account the long term financial implications for the Club. For example, a hypothetical situation where the Board would need to say No would be where the selling club is seeking a sizeable transfer fee for a 30+ year old with little chance of re-sale and/or the possibility of a different manager appearing during that player’s contract who didn’t see that player as part of his squad.
• The lack of home grown players was raised by John Morrow. DL agreed that academy produced players needed to improve. S. Caulker is a very promising academy resource right now.
Harry and the Press
• The subject of Harry’s public criticism of some THFC fans as idiots was raised as an inappropriate comment to make. This was accepted by the Club however mitigating circumstances of a leading question from the Sky reporter was raised and the fact that the club had spoken to Sky about this.
• It was agreed that Harry had an incredible relationship with the media (They like him/He likes to speak with them) and that with this there would be some positives and negatives.
Discuss amongst yourselves. There's a few things that really stand out. It's worth reading the full set of minutes. I'll revisit most of it again in more detail when I get a moments chance.
Reader Comments (21)
NDP looking gloomier than ever, then. Damn land prices, damn government cutbacks, damn fiscally-responsible owners, damn the club's lack of an alternate revenue stream, damn the recession, damn the bankers, damn David Lammy's dithering, damn Boris Johnson, damn the Premier League and damn every single football side save for THFC. Damn them all.
Well the response about the kit is obviously bollo*ks. The reason given for why the kits are not being released in time for the start of the season was a new product launch by the company. If that's the case then why is the 3rd kit on sale from 4th August but the home kit, which I believe to always be the most popular, not on sale until over a month later? If they're going to lie to us they should at least make it plausible. It's just another way to make more money out of us. Well not me, I will be waiting for the Investec shirt.
So to recap: the stadium - not a lot happening; transfer market - not a lot happening; everything else - not a lot happening. In the immortal phrase - it's deja vu all over again. Why do I love this club so much when they continue to irritate the living crap out of me sometimes?
well the ppoint about spending a lot on a new player when the manager might change rather suggests there will be little done until after the tax dodging trial as the change of manager could well be out of the club's hands
WHAT A LOAD OF CUNT!
STADIUM:
"There are two dedicated people working 24/7on the stadium project and a committee of 15 meets weekly to discuss progress"
So they never sleep, such is there dedication - complete BS
"With regards to other Haringey locations DL confirmed that a site near Tottenham Hale was considered but, due to the amount of property that would need acquiring, this would have been extremely time consuming and in all likelihood just as expensive as NDP with a further need for seeking planning permission from the local authorities."
Really? I would never have guessed. Just as well they're working round the clock.
"Ultimately, despite the huge investment this would be from THFC in the local community, there is no public sector money being made available."
I'm very surprised they're not willing to help out a billionaire tax exile.
"No timeframe can be put on how long this may take to resolve one way or the other."
Again, that is surprising.
"DL advised that he has no preference re stadium he just wants a stadium solution whatever that may be."
Let's build one on the moon, eh?
TRANSFERS:
"There will be activity this summer but the club does need to sell players for the above reason."
Sell at a reasonable price, and we might get shot of these wankers. Their prices are going down if you haven't noticed.
"DH asked if it was a deliberate tactic to wait until the end of the window before any intense activity? DL said he understood why there was this perception but this was far from deliberate, it was just the way the transfer market worked with buying clubs having their 1-10 wish lists and the fact it takes time to work this through."
How about concentrating at the '1' end rather than wasting time at the Phil Neville end of things?
HARRY AND HIS CHUMS IN THE PRESS:
Sack Redknapp now. Easy.
@SpursFuture: Following meetings this week with THFC, SD and HBC, we will hopefully have an official statement ready to release tomorrow
Rumours of good news according to some.
Interesting stuff. I did like the question about last minute transfers but i was not convinced by the answer.
Before criticising the board too much do we need to take into consideration the new UEFA Financial Fair Play Regs?
I think we are pretty well set up for that already. I do love the fact that we are stable and well run football club and the likes of Billionaire owner clubs like Man City & Chelsea might be a thing of the past in 5 years. It's was obvious that we would need to sell before we spend this summer with the amount players on loan or not even making the bench.
DL has always backed every manager in the transfer window and i fully expect some marquee signings this summer.
COYS
"Rumours of good news according to some."
Perhaps the kit launch has been brought foward; that'll placate thousands.
haha
"Rumours of good news according to some."
ITK?
All very well and good but what we really need are some spanking new strikers who know how to score GOALS. I want new strikers. Strikers who score GOALS the thing that happens when the ball actually hits the fcking net. Next season will be here before we can blink I cant handle another season of our er non-scoring-non-strikers.
WE WANT STRIKERS-THEY SCORE GOALS-STRIKERS WHO SCORE FCKING GOALS PLEASE.
Not much to ask is it?...
COYS
Ah, God no. Someone mentioned something and not long after Spurs Future announced they would have something for us - so I'm just hoping 1+1 = 2.
Spooky do you think this news is a player or developments on a new stadium
Spurs Future - check out their site http://www.spursfuture.org
Hopefully stadium related.
Cheers mate will check it out.
I think until the OS gets sorted nothing more will be done about making WHL viable again. Once the OS situation is put to bed then maybe someone will work a 40hr week on the project and keep TMWNN happy.
Also saw today Inter moaning about the transfer market and the fair play rules, saying they can't compete with revenue of the English clubs. Shows we have done well to compete at all with no CL football all this time.
And be interesting to see how Chelsea and Man City in particular manage to overcome those rules, maybe their directors can pay 100m a year for his executive box.
Topyid,
I'm with you mate. Is it really that difficult to find a better striker than the muppets we've got now?
Diaz,
Wouldn't a financial genius such as Levy have done his sums on the NDP before getting everyone's hopes up and having pretty plans drawn up and made public? If the OS wasn't a factor the NDP would be as 'viable' as it always has been.
TMWNN
Always said the only reason it's not viable is because of the OS. I think Levy saw that as an easier route to more money. You made yourself clear on your feelings on the whole matter.
While there is still a chance of us getting that I doubt he would throw himself 100% behind it. Or should that be 110%?!?!
I could be totally wrong. Speculation and opinion is all I have.
I believe the thing that really annoys Tottenham fans at the moment inregards too the stadium,is the total lack of any movement what so ever..How much is this working behind the scences for one thing costing the club,when the movement in regards to same,seems to be very little.Other than anther court case over the OS(.graveyard-leave it to the spammers-and there future in the championship.).As for transfers it is more understandable that we have to trim our playing staff,before going after other players.But please not Parker-decent player,but come on 30/31 no resell value,and there are others around of better quality and a much longer playing life.Harry has done agreat job while with us,but he does worry one at times when trying to go after players such as Parker.Besides he had the opportunity to come to us once before and shunned us.Leave him where he is.Let him suffer for his sins.
tell you what, i like to relax and read about my spurs sometimes on the net, most of which is a load of bollocks, but makes me feel god in comparison to how i feel when i read what spurs are in actual fact doing!
this article is fantastic and very concise imo. fantastic stuff mate. not sure how stable your sources are but it all seems pretty realistic to me!
we value our players too highly after they havnt made the grade. fringe players, who just dont make the team at man u, or barcellona for example are still worth good money. we have to be reasonable and realise if we wanna sell keans, jenases, huttons, bentleys ect, we are going to take a loss on them as they wernt the best buys and we paid too much for them! being stubbon about it hanging out for big money is hurting us! wed be better off taking the lot of them to a boot sale and be glad of what ever we get and happy to cut the squad down and free their wages, to make room for improvements.
id be happy to replace 6-7 of our misfits with 2 great players (do the maths) then we have a more stable squad.
stadium i feel is something where every plan will have a stumbling block. dont care where we go as long as its somewhere within the north east london region. i wouldnt be too sad at enfield either!